The Sydney Morning Herald: Ex-Kenyan president's $5b fraud revealed

THE breathtaking extent of corruption perpetrated by the family of the former Kenyan leader, Daniel arap Moi, has been exposed in a secret report that uncovered a web of shell companies, secret trusts and frontmen that his entourage used to funnel hundreds of millions of pounds into about 30 countries.

The 110-page report by the international risk consultancy Kroll, and seen by The Guardian, alleges that relatives and associates of Mr Moi siphoned off perhaps as much as £2 billion ($5 billion) of government money. If true, it would put the Mois on a par with Africa's other great kleptocrats, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and Nigeria's Sani Abacha.

The assets included multimillion-pound properties in London, New York and South Africa, as well as a 10,000-hectare property in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds.

The report, commissioned by the Kenyan Government, was submitted in 2004, but never acted upon. Kroll would not confirm or deny the report's authenticity on Thursday.

The Kroll investigation into the former regime was commissioned by President Mwai Kibaki shortly after he came to power on an anti-corruption platform in 2003. It was meant to be the first step towards recovering some of the money stolen during Mr Moi's 24-year rule, which earned Kenya the reputation as one of the world's most corrupt countries.

But soon after the investigation was launched Mr Kibaki's government was caught up in its own scandal, known as Anglo Leasing, which involved awarding huge government contracts to bogus companies. Since then, none of Mr Moi's relatives or close allies has been prosecuted, and no money has been recovered. Three of the four ministers that resigned after the Anglo Leasing scandal was exposed have since been reinstated.

On Thursday the Kenyan Government confirmed it received the Kroll report in April 2004. But the Government's official spokesman, Alfred Mutua, said it was incomplete and inaccurate, and that Kroll had not been engaged to do any further work. "We did not find that the report was credible. It was based a lot on hearsay," he said, adding that the leaking of the report was politically motivated. He insisted Kenya was working with foreign governments to recover the stolen money. "Some of the money is in UK bank accounts. We have asked the British government to help us recover the funds but so far they have refused," Dr Mutua said.

The report was obtained through the website Wikileak, which aims to help expose corruption. The document is believed to have been leaked by a senior government official upset with Mr Kibaki's failure to tackle graft and by his alliance with Mr Moi, who remains an influential figure in Kenya, before the December presidential election.

On Tuesday Mr Moi announced he was backing Mr Kibaki for a second term, saying he was disappointed that "selfish individual interests have been entrenched in our society".